Mechanical audio coupling device

ABSTRACT

A connector adapted to be removably coupled to the outlet opening of a horn type speaker in a pocket type portable radio receiver, the connector having a passageway therethrough which tapers from an inlet substantially matching the outlet of the transducer to a smaller outlet opening having a sound carrying conduit attached thereto with an earplug at the opposite end of the conduit for directing audible energy from the transducer into a human ear.

United States Patent [191 Lipinski et al.

[ Nov. 26, 1974 MECHANICAL AUDIO COUPLING DEVICE [75] Inventors: Richard D. Lipinski, Coral Springs;

Raymond E. Hagood, Lauderhill,

both of Fla.

[73] Assignee: Motorola, Inc., Chicago, Ill.

[22] Filed: Oct. 19, 1973 [21] Appl. No: 408,219

[52] US. Cl. 179/ 182 R, 325/361 [51] Int. Cl H04r 1/10 [58] Field of Search..... 325/361; 179/181. A, 156 R,

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,573,438 9/l946 Hathaway et al.; 325/36! Primary ExaminerWilliam C. Cooper Attorney, Agent, or FirmEugene A. Parsons; Vincent Rauner 57 ABSTRACT A connector adapted to be removably coupled to the outlet opening of a horn type speaker in a pocket type portable radio receiver, the connector having a passageway therethrough which tapers from an inlet substantially matching the outlet of the transducer to a smaller outlet opening having a sound carrying conduit attached thereto with an earplug at the opposite end of the conduit for directing audible energy from the transducer into a human ear.

4 Claims, 5 Drawing Figures 1 MECHANICAL AUDIO COUPLING DEVICE BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention Pocket type, portable radio receivers are utilized for a variety of communications, including paging and reception of short voice messages, etc. While these receivers are designed to be carried in a pocket, such as a vest pocket, and normally produce sufficient audio for the wearer to hear them, under certain circumstances it may be desirable for the audio to be reduced so that adjacent people cannot hear it or the wearer may be in'a high ambient noise level area. During these circumstances, it would be necessary for the wearer to remove the receiver from his pocket and-place it close to his ear. This is extremely inconvenient and, in the high noise environment it is possible for one to miss his page.

2. Description of the Prior Art In all prior art pocket receivers, known to the inventors, earplugs utilizing electrical transducers are connected to the receiver by means of a plug which electrically disconnects the transducer or speaker at the receiver and substitutes the transducer in the earplug therefor. In small pocket receivers this electrical system is inconvenient because the earplug is relatively expensive and the electrical plug at the receiver requires a substantial amount of room and electrical connections thereto.

SUMMARY or THE'INVENTION insize to matchthe outlet of the horn and to reduce the outlet opening to the size of a sound carrying conduit having an earplug at the opposite end thereof.

It is an object of the present invention to provide antrated in FIG. 4, portions thereof broken away and shown in section.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT The numeral 10 generally designates a pocket type I portable radio receiver having a horn type electrical to improved pocket type, portable radio receiver having a horn. type electrical to audible energy transducer with means for conveying sound from the transducer directly to the ear so that the transducer may be utilized with an earplug or without.

It is a further object of the present invention to pro- 2 vide an earpiece for a pocket type portable radio receiver having a horn type electrical to audible energy BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Referring to the drawings, wherein like characters indicate likeparts throughout the figures: FIG. 1 is a view in perspective of a pocket type portaaudible energy transducer or speaker 11. Referring specifically to FIG. 2, an electrical to audible energy transducer is positioed in an opening 12 and the audible energy is directed along the horn, which is gradually increased in size, to an outlet opening 13. A groove is fonned in the inwardly directed walls of the outlet opening l3'with the outermost edge thereof forming an inwardly projecting shoulder 14, which shoulder 14 is tapered gradually inwardlytoward the opening 13 for reasons which'will become apparent presently.

A mechanical audio coupling device, generally designated 20, includes a connecting means generally designated 21, a sound carrying conduit 22 and an earplug 23. The connecting means 21 includes a hollow housing 25 with an enlarged inlet opening 26 and an outlet opening 27. A coupling 28 is formed around the outlet opening 27 to receive one end of the sound conduit 22 coaxially thereon. The housing. 25 is tapered so that sound entering the inlet opening 26 is directed through the outletopening 27 and into the sound conduit 22. The inlet opening 26 is designed to be positioned in overlying relationship with the outlet opening 13 of the I transducer or speaker 11 so as to receive sound energy from the speaker 11. t

In the present embodiment the housing 25 is formed with an open end and a cup shaped insert 30, having the inlet opening 26 therethrough, is positioned in the open end of the housing 25 to complete the enclosure. A radially outwardly directed flange or shoulder 31 is positioned coaxial with the inlet opening 26 and. axially spaced from the outer surfaceof the insert 30: so as to form a groove or channel between the shoulder 31 and the surface of the insert 30. Further, in the present embodiment the housing 25 has a generally square cross section and the shoulder 31 is formed with a generally square cross section, which is rotated 45 relative to the housing 25. Further, the shoulder 31 is not continuous but is only present for a short distance at the corners of the square (see the dotted lines in FIG. 4). The extreme comers of the shoulder 31 are truncated so they ble radio receiver with a horn type speaker and having an embodiment of the mechanical audio coupling device engaged thereon; FIG. 2 is asectional' view as seen from the line 2-2 in FIG. 1;

do not extend radially outwardly beyond the sides of the housing 25. Thus, four separate portions of shoulder 31 are formed in spaced apart relationship. The surface of each of the portions of shoulder 31 adjacent the surface of the insert 30 is generally rounded to form a cam surface which cooperates with the shoulder 14 in the outlet opening 13 of radio receiver 10 to pull the surface of the insert 30 tightly against the surface of the speaker l 1 surrounding the outlet opening 13 when the shoulder 31 is inserted in the outlet opening 13 and twisted 45 (as illustrated in dotted lines in FIG. 3). Thus, the cam surfaces on the shoulder 31 pull the connecting means 21 into tight engagement with the body of the portable radio receiver 10 so that substantially all audible energy from the speaker 11 is directed through the outlet opening 27 into the sound conduit 22.

The opposite end of the sound conduit 22 is connected to an inlet of the earplug 23. The earplug 23 includes a body 34 having attached thereto a soft rubber member 35 constructed to fit comfortably in the ear. An opening 36 extends lengthwise through the entire body 34 and rubber member 35 of the earplug 23 and is open to the atmosphere at the opposite end thereof, designated 37. The inlet of the earplug 23 connected to the sound conduit 22 is in communication with the opening 36 so that audible energy from the sound conduit 22 enters the opening 36 and passes into the ear through the opening in the soft rubber member 35 and some of the audible energy passes to the atmosphere through the opening at 37. The opening at 37 operates as a sort of pressure relief valve and volume control. if the wearer wishes to increase the volume of the audible energy transmitted to his ear he simply places a finger partially or completely over the opening at 37.

Thus, a mechanical audio coupling device is disclosed which is mechanically coupled to a portable radio receiver to transmit sound from the speaker of the receiver directly to an operators ear. The coupling:

device does not alter the portable radio receiver and utilizes the transducer or speaker in the receiver to produce the sound transmitted. Because there is no necessity to disconnect the transducer or speaker in the receiver and electrically connect a remote transducer or speaker, the coupling device is greatly simplified and the additional components, size and expense are minimized.

While we have shown and described a specific embodiment of this invention, further modifications and improvements will occur to those skilled in the art. We desire it to be understood, therefore, that this invention is not limited to the particular form shown and we intend in the appended claims to cover all modifications which do not depart from the spirit and scope of this invention.

We claim:

1. In combination with a pocket type, portable radio receiver having a horn type electrical to audible energy transducer an improved earpiece assembly comprising:

a. connecting means including a hollow housing with an enlarged inlet opening and tapering to a substantially reduced outlet opening, said connecting means further including means for removably engaging said housing to the radio receiver with the inlet opening thereof in an overlying position relative to the transducer outlet;

b. sound carrying conduit having an inner diameter approximately the same size as the outlet opening of said housing'with one end fixedly engaged in a coaxial relationship to the outlet opening of said housing; and

c. earplug means fixedly attached to the other end of said conduit for directing audible energy from the transducer into a human ear.

2. An improved earpiece assembly as claimed in claim 1 wherein the engaging means of the housing includes a cam acting lock constructed to be received in the transducer outlet and rotated for pulling the housing into abutting engagement with the radio receiver and locking them together.

3. An improved earpiece assembly as claimed in claim 2 wherein the transducer has an inwardly projecting shoulder at least partially around the outlet opening thereof and the housing of the earpiece assembly has outwardly extending shoulders with cam surfaces thereon constructed to engage the inwardly projecting shoulders of the transducer and pull the housing against the transducer as the cam surfaces are rotated in engagement with said inwardly projecting shoulders.

4. An improved earpiece assembly as claimed in claim 1 wherein the earplug includes an opening in communication with the sound carrying conduit and the atmosphere for operating as a volume control.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION Patent No 3 51 3 Dated November 26 197 1- Inventor(s) Richard D. Lipinski et al.

It is certified that error appears in the above-identified patent and that said Letters Patent are hereby corrected as shown below:

The title page as shown on the attached sheet should be added, but will apply to the Grant only.

Signed and sealed this 18th day of March 1975.

(SEAL) Attest:

C. MARSHALL DANN RUTF. C. MASON 7 Commissioner of Patents attesting Officer and Trademarks F ORM PO-105O (10-69) USCOMM-DC 60376-P69 uts, covnnnsnr rnmmu: orncz: 930

United States Patent [191 Lipinski et al.

Page 2 51 Nov. 26, 1974 i 1 MECHANICAL AUDIO COUPLING DEVICE [75] Inventors: Richard D. Lipinski, Coral Springs;

Raymond E. Hagood, Lauderhill,

both of Fla.

[73] Assignee: Motorola, Inc., Chicago, Ill.

[22] Filed: Oct. 19, 1973 [21] Appl. No.: 408,219

[52] U.S. Cl. 179/182 R. 325/361 [51] Int. Cl H04r H10 [58] Field of Search..... 325/361; 179/181 A. 156 R.

l79/l ST [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS Hathaway ct al. 325/36l Primary Examiner-William C. Cooper Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Eugene A. Parsons; Vincent Rauner 57 ABSTRACT A connector adapted to be removahly coupled to the outlet opening of a horn type speaker in a pocket type portable radio receiver, the connector having a passageway therethrough which tapers from an inlet substantially matching the outlet of the transducer to a smaller outlet opening having a sound carrying conduit attached thereto with an earplug at the opposite end of the conduit for directing audible energy from the transducer into a human ear.

4 Claims, 5 Drawing Figures 

1. In combination with a pocket type, portable radio receiver having a horn type electrical to audible energy transducer an improved earpiece assembly comprising: a. connecting means including a hollow housing with an enlarged inlet opening and tapering to a substantially reduced outlet opening, said connecting means further including means for removably engaging said housing to the radio receiver with the inlet opening thereof in an overlying position relative to the transducer outlet; b. sound carrying conduit having an inner diameter approximately the same size as the outlet opening of said housing with one end fixedly engaged in a coaxial relationship to the outlet opening of said housing; and c. earplug means fixedly attached to the other end of said conduit for directing audible energy from the transducer into a human ear.
 2. An improved earpiece assembly as claimed in claim 1 wherein the engaging means of the housing includes a cam acting lock constructed to be received in the transducer outlet and rotated for pulling the housing into abutting engagement with the radio receiver and locking them together.
 3. An improved earpiece assembly as claimed in claim 2 wherein the transducer has an inwardly projecting shoulder at least partially around the outlet opening thereof and the housing of the earpiece assembly has outwardly extending shoulders with cam surfaces thereon constructed to engage the inwardly projecting shoulders of the transducer and pull the housing against the transducer as the cam surfaces are rotated in engagement with said inwardly projecting shoulders.
 4. An improved earpiece assembly as claimed in claim 1 wherein the earplug includes an opening in communication with the sound carrying conduit and the atmosphere for operating as a volume control. 